Fish swim around in a field at Barrett.

For elementary students in the Morgan Hill School District,
the
“Message in a Bottle” is clear: art plus recycling equals
fun.
For elementary students in the Morgan Hill School District, the “Message in a Bottle” is clear: art plus recycling equals fun.

The “Message in a Bottle” project is a collaboration between the City of Morgan Hill, the district and the State Department of Conservation. The district’s eight elementary schools, guided by artists-in-residence Matthew Reynolds and Catherine Zweig of Transforming Art, create large mosaics using 3,000 – 4,000 bottles filled with colored water.

At Paradise Valley Elementary, a giant dragon was created, while students at San Martin/Gwinn Elementary made a jellyfish.

“The images are inspired by curriculum or field trips, like the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The students are involved with and traditional textile images from around the world,” Reynolds said. “Each mosaic is created in one day, and, much like Tibetan sand mandalas and Native American sand paintings, at the end of the day the images are dismantled.”

The bottles are collected at the end of the day by South Valley Disposal and Recycling to be used again the next day.

When the project was completed at each school, students had a chance to view the finished work, and photographs were be taken of each design.

“Our goal is to convey to the students how each small act of recycling makes a difference in the greater purpose, just as each small dot of color in a mosaic contributes to the overall design,” Zweig said. “We are excited to be able to work with so many students in this unique project.”

Zweig and Reynolds said they want students also to understand that many of the containers they bring to school in their lunches can be recycled or can be eliminated by bringing reusable containers.

According to state figures, California school districts generate more than 750,000 tons of waste every year. Aside from the costs of collecting all this waste, the environmental impact is great, with beverage containers and other items being added to landfills.

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